Untitled
by Kate27cat1
Summary: High School AU: Sakura and Gaara were lovers, but he left her behind. Now that he is back will he be able to piece together the heart he destroyed?
1. New Kid-Again

As I said in my bio, I am very unoriginal when it comes to titles. So, I would love it if you would review a title you think would be a good fit for this story. I will most likely decide on a name after I publish the next chapter of this in case it is decided that it is too early to decide upon a name. Thank you for taking the time to read/ review this story.

* * *

Life hadn't been complicated for Sakura Haruno: top student of Konoha High-one of the most prestigious public schools in the entire nation- doting parents, well liked by many, and was beautiful with her uncommonly pink hair. The only real downsides in her life was that her height had peaked at 5'4 and that she had never experienced love. To clarify, Sakura Haruno had never experienced true love: unconditional, unrelenting, unnerving, eternal. Countless times she believed to be in love, only to realize that love was tainted for one reason or another. Usually it came down to either being an unrequited love or simply a love that was for the other's personal gain-never because they simply wanted to be with her. After years of understanding that "love" was too unpredictable, Sakura simply gave up and focused on herself. By the time sophomore year came about, she had matured into the woman she was meant to be: strong, confident, realistic, and happy. Now it was junior year and, unbeknownst to her, within the spring her true love would come forth one more time.

* * *

An electronic beep, coming from her car alarm, resounded throughout the barren parking lot as Sakura began walking into the large school. Carelessly throwing her long hair into a ponytail, secured by a red scrunchie, Sakura rushed to the teacher's office. Being the class representative was much more trouble than it was worth on days like this. Today was the day the seasons began to shift from winter to spring, which also meant ice cold mornings to start the day. Feeling goosebumps begin to collect upon her exposed legs underneath her standard blue skirt, Sakura tried to pull her black knee highs farther upward only to realize her efforts were fruitless.

'Damn uniform.' She inwardly cursed, tightening her tan cardigan around her upper body in a futile attempt to find warmth, and hastened her pace.

Finally arriving at the teacher's office, Sakura knocked on the wooden door then abruptly opened it before she received an answer. There she saw the usual scene, all the teachers talking to one another from their alligned desks while making sure their handouts were in order. Well, all except one teacher-Kakashi Hatake. The grey headed man was seen trying to get some "beauty sleep", or so he called it, at his cluttered desk. Rolling her green eyes at her beloved homeroom teacher, and made her way towards his desk. When she reached him, she lightly knocked his head with her fist causing him to look at her with bleary eyes.

"Why hello Sakura, how are you this fine morning?" Kakashi slurred evidently still half asleep.

"Considering I'm up at this god awful hour," she took a glance toward the clock-reading 6- "worse than a certain someone who is still sleeping." She mockingly smiled at her teacher.

"Now look, I am a very busy man who was up late-" Kakashi began to explain while sitting up straight in his chair.

"Helping a poor defenseless woman who was being mugged, or were you helping a lost child like the last time." Sakura effortlessly interrupted him.

The only response was Kakashi scratching the back of his head with his right hand, meanwhile his left hand was straightening the standard surgical mask that covered his mouth. This caused both people to laugh loudly at one another.

"Truth is I was up late at the dojo helping out Gai." Kakashi stretched his arms from behind his head.

Although Kakashi would never admit it, he really enjoyed the ever youthful presence of his oldest friend Maito Gai. Anyone who knew Gai understood, he was one of the most positive and energetic people out there. He would always be there for you when you were down and out. But, his fashion sense left little to be desired; especially when his go to pair of casual clothes were his infamous green spandex leggings and his traditional white uniform top. Gai ended up never going to college and instead opened up his own martial arts dojo within the city. Although, he lacked staff many students flooded the place every year wanting to be taught by the incredible man himself. Naturally, Gai recruited Kakashi in becoming a sensei there, even if Kakashi refused for months until finally relenting. Kakashi's joining encouraged others to volunteer in teaching, some staying permanently, as well as an influx of female students.

Having to be a full time teacher in two different places was taxing upon the aging man, and Sakura knew that greatly. Hence the reason she showed up to school early. After becoming closer with the teacher throughout the years, she knew he had some type of hero complex and tried to shoulder everything upon himself. The look on his face when she announced that he had no choice but to accept her help was priceless.

Every weekday she would arrive at school two hours early in order to help Kakashi organize himself, make copies, assign class duties for the week, and make sure he was well caffeinated. It became routine for them as they went through the motions with idle chit-chat, blithe jokes, and comforting silence. Because of the aid, Kakashi was always ready at 8 but often strolled into class an hour late; the reason Sakura would never truly know, but she definitely had many guesses.

* * *

Sakura took her seat in the outer left row near the window and simply stared at the cherry trees that were beginning to regain their leaves. She always thought about how nature had so much perseverance; even after being stripped of everything it had, nature continued to fight and became much more beautiful by the end of the whole ordeal. Softly smiling at the thought, Sakura began to notice her classmates filter in one by one. However, the only real person she cared about was her timid friend, Hinata Hyuuga. After catching Hinata's attention with a gentle wave, the shy girl's nervous expression softened. Hinata offered a delicate smile, relieved that her pink haired best friend was in class, and began to make her way over to the desk next to Sakura.

Hinata was a faint-hearted girl, but once sparked she gained an immense of courage that rivaled Sakura's. Her courage was found within her light purple eyes, a biological birth condition, that seemed to convey her hidden feelings. The only issue was that Hinata rarely looked any in the eye so none would be the wiser to her ever-changing emotions.

As she made her way towards Sakura, her lengthy raven hair swayed in the wind she was creating.

"How are you today, Hinata? You seem a little more chipper this morning." Sakura asked as she watched Hinata place her belongings onto the desk. This question caused Hinata to smile a fraction more.

"Well… Naruto invited me to come watch his tournament in a few weeks at Gai's dojo." Hinata abashedly said as she clasped her hands together, something she did whenever she was embarrassed.

Sakura couldn't help but fully smile at her best friend. Hinata had an enormous crush on their mutual friend, Naruto Uzumaki- an unnecessarily loud blonde ball of energy whose heart was always in the right place. It took many years for Naruto to finally understand that the young Hyuuga girl had intense feelings for him, but everything fell into place somehow. Looking back on it, the only reason Naruto confessed was because Hinata was being teased by others about her crush on Naruto: which began in elementary school. Of course Naruto being himself stepped in and said,

"At least her love isn't unrequited like yours, you dipshits!" Yelling all this while holding his fist in front of him as if he was determined to fight them if they said anything else to upset Hinata. Naturally, Hinata, being overwhelmed by the sudden revelation, fainted right on the spot with a harsh red blush painting her entire face.

They had officially begun dating freshman year of high school, quickly becoming the most famous couple within the area. Hinata's timid yet composed nature balanced out Naruto's erratic yet loving behavior well.

Coming back to real life, Sakura congratulated her friend and embraced her in a strong hug, causing the raven haired girl to only giggle as she was coddled by Sakura. After releasing her, the two began to talk about many different topics. However the only one that seemed intriguing was that Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro Sabaku were back in town and attending Konoha High. This made Sakura uneasy. It wasn't entirely true that Sakura and Gaara had been a couple at one point, but it wasn't entirely a lie that Sakura and Gaara had been in love.

Gaara Sabaku: cold, distant, complicated, and terrifying. These were all words commonly associated with the red head. But, what many forgot to add to that list was passionate. The moments they shared together were just that. Gaara easily swept Sakura off of her feet freshman year, but very quickly crushed her heart in one single moment. Then he was never seen or heard from again. She knew why, and it pained her to think about it. It pained her to think about the countless nights she spent crying over him, the countless times she stared at her phone waiting for him, the countless moments she waited at that spot in hopes he would one day come back. Of course, he never did. But now he was back, and Sakura was far beyond nervous.

Sakura only noticed that she had broken into a cold sweat after Hinata offered her a lacey lavender handkerchief. Gratefully, Sakura accepted and dabbed her face while apologizing. The Hyuuga girl only smiled hoping to have given some comfort to her friend.

"Do you think he remembers me?" Sakura hesitantly asked.

"I suppose only time will tell." Hinata quietly offered moving to gently squeeze Sakura's hand, thus receiving another love crushing hug from the strong girl. Sakura's love fest was disturbed by none other than Naruto.

"Sakura! What did I tell you about doing that to Hinata?" Naruto stormed in towards the two, his orange scarf fluttering.

"What? You can't hog all this cuteness to yourself." Sakura teased Naruto as she rubbed her face against Hinata's.

"Damn right I can!" Naruto sat on his girlfriend's desk and pulled her close causing Hinata to have an internal meltdown.

Nonetheless, the two of them laughed considering they always "fought" like this over the shy girl. Naruto and Sakura had always been close since they lived across the street from one another, and over the years they had become like siblings to one another. That is after Sakura rejected Naruto enough times to get through his thick skull. Either way, they were as thick as thieves. After laughing, Naruto's cerulean eyes opened and looked at Sakura showing concern.

"I heard…" He trailed off in hopes he wouldn't have to finish the sentence.

"I knew you would." Sakura leaned against the window sill, fully facing her two friends.

Gaara's abrupt departure hadn't only wounded Sakura but Naruto as well. Both men were paired with similar tragic backstories, thus allowing them to bond quickly. Plus, their mutual love for martial arts was a nice bonus. Although that wasn't what held them together. Naruto's persistent nagging for Gaara to become his friend eventually broke down his barriers, leaving Gaara to realize that the exuberant blonde had truly cared about him. That was what held them together for so long, until the incident.

The three sat together in a few moments of silence as they collected themselves emotionally, silently preparing for the storm that was going to walk through the doors.

* * *

The Sabaku siblings stepped onto the glossy tiles of the school only to be greeted with whispers and curious stares. Of course, they were going to stir up trouble simply by being there especially considering it had almost been two years since they left. Only those closest to the siblings knew the truth of why they abruptly left, and somehow Gaara was thankful for that. He knew Naruto was loyal enough to both him and Sakura to discuss the details.

'Sakura…' Gaara wistfully thought of the girl. He saw her shoulder length light pink hair dance in the wind as she gazed at him with strong emerald eyes, that image had haunted him all those years. That was the last image of her he had imprinted into his mind, never knowing of how much she had changed in the last few years.

"Hey, Gaara, we gotta go grab our schedules. Where was the principal's office again?" Temari offhandedly asked.

"I'm pretty sure it's down this hall." Kankuro placed his hands behind his head, ruffling his unkempt brown hair in the process.

"I doubt it is. Your sense of direction is awful." Temari quipped as she repositioned the bag hanging on her shoulder.

"Oh, you mean as bad as your hairstyle." He smirked while glancing at her offended expression.

"You are just not as fashion forward as I am _little_ brother." She played with the two lowest ponytails out of the four.

"Oh, bite me. Man were uniforms always this uncomfortable?" Kankuro tugged at his white shirt collar.

Gaara drowned out his siblings agreement on the school dress code and how horrendous it was. His thoughts kept running to the only friends he had in this dingy town, the same people he left behind that cold winter years ago.


	2. Red Umbrella

The principal had decided to give the three siblings a personalized tour of the school; meaning the principal took them all around campus only glorifying his own achievements as the overseer of Konoha High. Not wanting to start off leaving an awful impression, Temari and Kankuro stayed only to listen to the elderly man babble on about useless factoids. Meanwhile, Gaara decided to take his chances with figuring out the school layout on his own.

'I mean, it's just like any other damn school. How hard is it to find homeroom?' Gaara, visibly disgruntled, hoisted his black backpack higher onto his right shoulder and began to wander the large school.

Tousling his red hair for the fifth time in frustration, Gaara squinted at his schedule one more time in an effort to figure out what room he was in; LEVEL 2, WING H RM. 13. Whipping his head around, Gaara knew he was in the right building and level. However, the ever elusive room number was eluding him. Quickly getting enraged, he crumpled his paper and punted it down the hall, only to see it hit a pair of feet. Realizing the occurrence, green eyes traveled up the legs only to find a face he hadn't seen in ages.

The boy that had been hit stooped low to pick up the crumpled source of Gaara's anger, uncrumpled it, and read it.

"So you guys are in the same class." Shikamaru stated quietly. Unbuttoning his top button on his gakuran, to gain some type of ventilation, shuffled towards Gaara. He thrust the paper towards him lazily.

"How's it been?" Gaara took the note from his sister's long distance boyfriend.

"Lonely, I suppose." Shikamaru only nodded to signify that he held the same belief as Gaara felt.

Although the two never talked very often, they understood each other well enough. They never seemed to enjoy being swept up within discussion that were unnecessary or simply put troublesome. The two had bonded over mutual respect to one another's space, something Temari never really understood. But it worked well so there were no complaints.

"You ready to face Hell?" Shikamaru motioned for the other to follow.

"Does it matter." Gaara fell into step with the ponytailed man.

To that, Shikamaru only shrugged. They continued their walk in a comforting silence. Upon reaching the door, Shikamaru turned around and was making his way down the corridors towards his usual spot: the rooftop. Shikamaru often skipped class only to take naps in the sun, to watch the clouds, or to just think about his own findings. The teachers stopped bringing up his attendance, or lack thereof, when they discovered he was getting some of the top scores in the class. Whatever's working is working was the general mentality of the faculty.

Gaara looked towards his sister's boyfriend, only to tear his eyes away from the figure and turn his attention to the door; the only thing separating him and the utter chaos he could hear that was erupting from inside. He could clearly hear voices yelling and cheering. Deciding to bite the bullet, Gaara reached for the handle and tugged on it.

* * *

Kakashi had finished his math lesson for the day and decided to have the last twenty minutes of the period be a free for all: students could do whatever they wanted _within_ the classroom. Today the students were enjoying the lukewarm weather and students had congregated onto the balcony to bask in the sun, some just got together in small groups. Others were watching Sasuke and Naruto have their famous daily debates, today's debate was what to get for lunch.

"C'mon Sasuke, let's pick up some melon bread." Naruto whined at his raven haired friend.

"No, idiot. Besides you don't even like melon bread." Sasuke retorted while shifting his stance against the wall next to Sakura's desk.

"I love melon bread." He looked towards Hinata. "I really do, especially when you bake it. It's the absolute best."

Hinata calmly smiled, knowing full and well how much the blonde hated melon bread. But, it was Hinata's guilty pleasure which meant Naruto would always buy some just in case she wanted any. It was something Hinata always treasured about her boyfriend: how much he cared about the little things.

Sakura was laughing at their debate as it progressed further, only to have her attention taken away by the opening of the door. As she looked upward, emerald and forest green eyes collided and immediately began to take the other in.

His evergreen eyes were exactly the same as they had been years ago, but they held much more sorrow than ever before. His red hair had grown longer in the years apart now reaching his eyebrow bone while still maintaining an air of unruliness. The tattoo he had upon his forehead seemed to stand out in comparison to the dark circles upon his alabaster skin. He had grown in both height and muscle mass, which was evident as his uniform was well fitting around him. Sakura could tell that he had grown a few more inches, possibly reaching 5'6, at least from what she could tell.

Her jewel eyes had become muddled, not enough to affect their beauty but to show her inner turmoils caused by the aftermath of everything. Her pale pink hair, now free from her updo, flowed towards the slope of her back, and framed her heart shaped face. Her ivory skin seemed to glow and was unmarred by any imperfections. Sakura had grown more beautiful throughout the years in Gaara's eyes.

"Ah, new kid, you're finally here." Kakashi interrupted the stare down as he stood from his chair, resting his romance novel on his oak desk. Clapping Gaara on the shoulder, Kakashi urged him to introduce himself to the class, all of whom were staring at him.

The most Gaara did was stare at everyone, picking out faces he already knew. Upon seeing only a handful of those he knew, Gaara sighed.

"Gaara." Was all he said, turned towards Kakashi and simply stared. As if trying to challenge the teacher.

Knowing he wouldn't get much more out of the red head, Kakashi rubbed the back of his head and looked around towards the empty seats.

"Pick whatever empty seat you want. The next period starts in a few, so pick one quickly." Kakashi began to walk towards his desk. "Oh, Sakura, come help me pass these out."

Sakura, too nervous to make a sound, rushed out of her seat towards her teacher; She was very grateful for the brief distraction. As she passed, Gaara and Sakura's hands brushed ever so slightly. It wasn't much but it was just enough to send a shock through both teen's bodies. The hair on Gaara's neck felt as if they were being tugged mercilessly to look towards his first love, however he knew that if he did he wouldn't be able to stop himself from making a scene. Sakura could feel her face heat from the contact. Realizing the situation, she quickly bit back the feelings that were rekindling.

'Think about everything that he ever did to you. Don't ever let that happen, Sakura. Besides you have-' Sakura's thoughts were interrupted by Kakashi plopping the stack of handouts in her arms. He then began to look over them to make sure what he was going to say for the next lesson.

During class, Sakura found her eyes drifting towards Gaara's back constantly.

'Someone up there must really get a kick out of making me suffer.' Sakura was visibly disgruntled from the ordeal of having Gaara occupy the seat right in front of her. On top of that it was hard to see the board considering he had grown since the last time they had seen one another.

Suddenly, a vibration broke her out of her inner rant. She pulled out her cell phone, making sure the bell strap attached didn't jingle, and checked the screen. After pressing a few buttons, Sakura managed to bring up a text message she had just received from Sasuke: who was sitting right behind her.

' _Hey, how are you doing_?'

Sakura smiled at the kind gesture he had offered to her.

'Meh, I mean obviously a little rattled but not terrible...Thanks though.'

' _Roof lunch?'_

'Yeah, Naruto and Hinata will be meeting us up there.'

' _Ok._ '

That was the last message throughout the entire period.

Softly sighing, Sakura leaned back in her chair feeling much more relaxed about the whole situation. Knowing she had a support system and someone who really cared for her made all the difference to Sakura.

* * *

"Alright, food time!" Naruto pumped his fists in the air in celebration as Hinata simply gathered their bentos she had prepared.

"You act super excited but you're always sneaking food in class." Sasuke cocked his head at Naruto.

"What? Psh, no I don't. I have no idea what you are talking about…" Naruto trailed off acting suspiciously while shoving his hands deep into his pockets, thus producing a crinkling sound. No one said anything but shared a quiet laugh.

"How did you know that Sasuke?" Sakura asked while their group began making their way towards the roof stairwell.

"One of the privileges of sitting in the back." He casually stated.

Gaara was lying on top of the roof entrance looking at the sky, something he had picked up from Shikamaru from the years of knowing him.

'Shikamaru always said this was relaxing.' Gaara had to admit that his sister's boyfriend knew something helpful for once. After coming in contact with Sakura had sent his mind into overdrive all day, so of course sitting right in front of her did not help at all. If anything the smell of her citrus shampoo had sent his entire being skyrocketing. Now here he was, alone, trying to figure out how to convince her to come back to him; let alone acknowledge him in the slightest.

He heard a click come from below him then a rush of voices follow afterwards. Immediately recognizing them, Gaara decided to stay silent. A few moments passed and he just couldn't help himself, so Gaara took a peek at his love.

There she was in all of her glory. Now long pink hair flowing in the breeze behind her, while she tried fruitlessly to tame it. He couldn't help but be entranced by her. Before he was discovered, Gaara hid himself once more. Then the conversation piqued his interest.

"Sakura," Hinata delicately said "are you alright?"

Everyone looked at the pink haired girl who was nervously laughing.

"Yeah, totally." Sakura was holding the back of her neck. "How are you, Naruto? You're the one who has to sit next to him."

"I'm alright." Naruto's tone was somber. "But, he won't even acknowledge us. Like we were the ones who abandoned him. That douche!" Naruto was beginning to get angry.

"Hn. Idiot." Sasuke uttered catching Naruto's wrath.

"Oh, you wanna go bastard?" Naruto got up and began to stalk towards Sasuke.

"You can't even handle me at the dojo." Sasuke dodged Naruto and wrapped him into a headlock. After struggling a little, Naruto simply began to laugh loudly as Sasuke smirked.

Sakura sadly smiled as she was watching two of her best friends vent out their feelings. Unable to hide her contempt for much longer, Sakura excused herself for the restroom.

Gaara could feel her frantic footsteps vibrations as she ran down the stairs.

"You think she is alright?" Naruto asked, completely oblivious as usual.

"No, stupid." Sasuke answered as he released Naruto from the headlock.

"I have to agree with Sasuke. She seemed pretty shocked to find out Gaara was coming back." Hinata wrapped her arms around her torso in nervousness.

* * *

Gaara simply stayed there, even after the group left to find Sakura. He stayed thinking of everything that went wrong, every single thing he had done to hurt her. To drive her away. But, he knew that somewhere along the line he had been the one to run away. He had been the one to leave not the other way around. Gaara stayed there until it was time to go home, which was when it began to rain. Shuffling down to the classroom, he noticed how empty the school had become within half an hour. But, he didn't blame them. Gaara definitely would not want to stay any longer than mandatory at this prison.

At least that's what he thought until he opened the door to the classroom and saw the one person he had been so anxious to see again. There she was.

Sakura was sitting in her seat, looking out the window at the light rain that had begun. The only give away that it was her was her petal pink hair softly falling against her back. After hearing the door open, she glanced over her shoulder to meet Gaara once again. Emerald and forest green eyes met once again.

"S-Sakura…" Gaara was taken aback by the sudden appearance of Sakura. He had imagined her avoiding him like the plague until he finally could figure out a plan to win her back, then, and only then, would he start pursuing her. Now with her standing to take her bag as well as his, Gaara's entire strategy had just been flung out the window and run over by a huge semi truck. Before he could think of anything intelligent to say, Gaara felt his bag shoved against him roughly.

"Here. Next time show up for class duty." Sakura seamlessly kept waking as she slipped him the class journal.

Confused Gaara looked towards the board to see his and Sakura's names placed on the chalkboard with the words; Class Representatives. How he got elected, Gaara had no idea, but he thanked whatever God was up there for this chance. Snapping out of his thoughts, Gaara knew this was his chance to reconnect with Sakura. After the revelation, Gaara shoved the notebook into his backpack and sprinted towards the school doors in hopes to catch up to...

"Sakura!" He frantically yelled.

There she stood with her red umbrella shielding her from the rain. And that's exactly where he ran to.

"Gaara, stop. You're going to get soaked." Sakura reasoned as she began to back away very slowly, both out of worry for herself and simply because she wasn't ready to face him so intimately.

"Then stop and let me talk to you." Gaara, slightly annoyed, pleaded.

Startled, Sakura realized that she was backing away and stopped. She began to stare at the ground, only looking up at his face when his ragged breath could be heard right in front of her. They stood there. One slowly becoming drenched, the other safe and dry.

The silence was becoming much heavier with every passing second. Becoming uncomfortable Sakura began to shift her weight from foot to foot while Gaara was trying to figure out something to say...anything to say really. After a few minutes of the awkward silence, the drizzle from earlier had gradually increased into a downpour. Seeing how wet Gaara was becoming, she held her umbrella a little farther from herself in order to shield him from the onslaught of water. She saw the surprised look Gaara gave her.

"I don't want you dying of hypothermia." Sakura said in response to his look. "Come on." She was beginning to walk away, giving Gaara no chance for a rebuttal. Instead, he followed along managing to take the umbrella from her hand. Gaara held it up higher to accommodate his stature underneath the red umbrella for two.


End file.
